My Name is Corinthos: Part Two: The Architects
by Gillen1962
Summary: Josslyn/Jess finally meets Henry/Peter but they have spies watching their every move. Elizabeth and Annie discuss Siobhan. Drew and Jason mourn Sonny. And Ava wants her "Damn painting back" and if Robert knows what is good for him he will help her get it


_My Name is Corinthos: Part Two: The Architects_

Anna stopped thirty feet from the entrance to Kelly's to look at her phone. Which insipid idiot is this she thought to herself as she looked at a number that she did not recognize.

"Yeah." She paused and Listened. "No, I suppose not. Let me try again. Hello this is Anna Devane how can I held save the planet and still keep my hair fabulous today?"

She laughed at the response then asked. "So, are you all set up now? Excellent. No that is the perfect location close enough and yet far enough away."

Anna nodded a few times and then said. "No, I am going in to meet him now. No, No I understand I know how to do it and be kind. I will be kind."

She paced a bit and then laughed. "Pink, thong. Ahh eat your heart out."

She hung up and entered Kelly's. Her fiancé Hamilton Finn got up and waved her over to a table. She came over and smiled at him. He kissed her cheek and pulled out her chair.

"Ahh thank you Finn" She said then sighed. "We should talk."

"And you expect me to not think that there is a connection?" Asked Ava Jerome as she paced around her gallery. "Come on Robert how stupid do you think I am?"

District Attorney Robert Scorpio shook his head and gave it his best charming smile. "Darling I am not saying you are stupid. I am just saying that you are taking quite a leap." He rubbed his eyes He had just left his brother Mac's office after taking a statement from the latest witness in the dancer killer investigation. He was literally too tired for this.

They were in the Jerome Gallery at the Logan Hayes Veterans center. Ava was standing behind her desk, While Robert sat in the chair across from her.

Leaning against the wall nearby were Sam McCall and Ethan Lovett. Ethan leaned in and whispered to Sam "Oh he is so going to get his head bit off."

Sam chuckled.

"Leap. Leap? Leap!" Snapped Ava. "Millions of dollars' worth of artwork evacuated from all over Port Charles during the Ice Princess Crisis, even a multi million dollar Edward Hopper. All of them, every single piece from the Hopper to a ten-dollar vase that Alan Quartermaine gave Lucy Coe."

Sam leaned and whispered to Ethan "Lucy thought it was worth thousands, she is still fuming."

"And all of them, all of them" Snapped Ava. "Returned."

"Well that is a good thing, right?" Robert said.

Ava snatched a letter opener off her desk and brandished it like a knife. "Robert Xavier Scorpio, stop mocking me"

Robert put his hands up. "Okay okay. I know you want that painting, but really what evidence is there that Holly had anything to do with this?'

Ethan shook his head. "My mother is obsessed with that painting."

"I am pretty sure, in hindsight that the woman driving the van Connor and I loaded the painting on was in disguise" Sam added.

Ava waved the letter opener like a dagger. "And there you go"

Robert looked at the twosome and shook his head. "Well then, Ethan, have you called your mother and asked?"

Ethan gave Robert a thin smile. "She is not answering."

"Of course, not she has my painting." Snapped Ava.

Robert shook his head. "What would you like to do Ava?"

"Ethan and Sam are going to go and get my painting back."

Robert stood up and smiled. He rubbed his hands together and said. "Good then that is that."

"Not so fast Scorpio" Ava said. "Where was she last?" 

Josslyn Jacks was so well disguised in her black wig, blue contacts, fake tats and trampy look that she doubted even her father or mother would recognize her. Up until a few weeks ago she had been looking forward to this meeting more than she had anything since Oscar's death. She had been talking to Henry for months, well her current alter ego Jesse had been talking to him for months, and now she was finally meeting him. Finally going to see his face, though he had of course seen quite a bit of her.

She should be happy. But she wasn't her stepsister Kristina had found the photos that she had sent Henry and had been blackmailing her ever since. Even now as she stepped into the Port Charles University Campus Cafeteria, she spotted Kristina and Dev Corbin at a table in the far corner. Oh god she thought feeling her stomach flip, had she shown Dev her photos?

She slipped into a booth and took out a copy of Go Tell a Watchman by Harper Lee, she and Henry's favorite book. She had told him she would be reading it while she waited for him.

She had only read a few pages when she heard a voice say "Jesse?"

She picked up her head and gasped "Peter August…Henry?"

Carly Benson stood in the living room of Graymor, the home she had shared with her late husband Sonny Corinthos. She let out a long sigh.

Jason Morgan lifted her bag off the floor and said. "Ready?"

She smiled. "I am supposed to meet Charlie Holt at the Metro Court in an hour, so yes, let's get this done."

Jason nodded.

Carly stood.

"You don't have to move" He said softly.

"You are the one who has been telling me for nearly a year now that we all have to change." She said with a smile.

"Change yes, but we can hang onto to some things, I mean, I still wear black."

Carly chuckled. "Yes, but now you make jokes." She stopped and looked around. "And you are not with Sam and are not in the business anymore, and Michael lives at the Q mansion and calls himself a Quartermaine, Josslyn lives with Jax, Avery is with Ava, everything has changed"

She stopped and sat heavily on the couch "And Sonny is dead."

Jason sat next to her. She patted his knee. "How are you holding up?"

He had to grin. "I must stop a thousand times a day and think of reasons I need to call him or talk to him"

Carly smiled. "Me too. He, he was more than people think he was."

Jason nodded. "Yes."

"How is Kristina working out at the Construction Company?"

"Far better than I would have thought." Jason said, then paused. "She is trying harder to please him now, then she did when he was alive."

"He was always proud of her and of Avery, Michael, Dante, even poor Morgan."

"Did Lulu or Olivia hear from Dante?" Jason asked.

Carly nodded. "Yes, the WSB doctors were very careful how they told him, but they finally did, and he seems to have taken it well. He sent me a message reminding me to be proud that Sonny died saving children."

"He would" Jason said smiling.

"I am glad you came over to help me."

"Sure, Krissy is going to keep living here?' He asked.

"Yes. "

Jason nodded.

"I am surprised she let you help."

Jason shook his head. She meant his girlfriend Rovena who was no fan of Carly's "It is not like that. She doesn't let me do things or prevent me from doing things."

"But she objects? Like she objects to you helping in the Holt Campaign."

Jason looked away. Carly had brought into the Charlie Holt for governor campaign hook line and sinker. He on the other hand was involved only because he was working undercover for Congressman Joe Kelly, trying to find the link between the biker gang Quantrill's raiders, whose late President Billy Murray had been associated with the campaign and the recent increase in human trafficking in Port Charles.

Rovena knew what he was doing and so while she objected to Charlie Holt's Make America America Again campaign and his New Wave political party, she was supportive of his mission.

A mission that Jason was growing increasingly frustrated with. With Billy dead, the club was in disarray and while he was sure that two of the Bikers, Jeb and Colonel Lee were behind the human trafficking he had no proof and no idea who they were working with.

Jason did not want to pull the rug out of Carly in her support of Holt, it had become a comfort to her. And he was pretty sure that while his Cousin Charlie Holt, the son of Alan's half-brother Jimmy Lee, had some awful political opinions, Holt himself was not involved in any crimes.

"No, she doesn't like Holt's politics. And that is okay. "He hesitated. He disliked emotional conversations; they were a strain. But Carly was his best friend. He paused and looked for an analogy.

"Did you love Jax?" He asked.

"Of course."

"But you loved Sonny differently."

"Yes"

"I loved Sam. We have Danny and I will never forget the time that she and I were together. And I am thankful she is such a good Mom and such a good friend. If she needs me, I will be there. But I love Rovena. She is different than Sam. She doesn't feel the need to justify everything I do. "He stopped and smiled. "Like Jax when he would call you on things."

"He always wanted me to be better."

"Same with Rovena, she sees a better man."

"The man Sam loved wasn't bad."

"No just like the woman Sonny loved wasn't bad, Jax just saw a potential"

"And you are trying to live to that potential?"

"No" Jason shook his head. "I'm just changing to be the man that she can see when she looks at me." He stopped. "I crack jokes now."

Carly hugged him. "Sonny would say that as long as you are happy, I should be happy"

"Sonny would be right."

He picked up her suitcase. "Come on, don't you have an appointment with the next governor?"

Michael Quartermaine poured himself some water from the pitcher on the bar in the renovated living room of the Quartermaine mansion.

He looked up at the portrait of Edward and Lila his great grandparents above the fireplace. For a man who never meet them Franco Baldwin had done an amazing job of capturing their soul in his art.

He picked up a frame photo of his birth Father AJ. And sighed. He felt more than hear or saw, his grandmother Monica enter the room.

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you all right?'

He turned and smiled. "Yes. Just thinking."

"Of Sonny?"

Michael nodded. "I likely shouldn't be doing that while looking at AJ, but…."

"But he raised you, how he got you, what he did, his killing of AJ, all of that aside, he raised you like a Son, and loved you like a Son."

"That is very nice of you considering all that Sonny cist you." Michael said

Monica shrugged. "What am I supposed to do, hold a grudge against a dead man? I learned a long time ago that the only way to move forward is to let go of the past."

"But, it's okay to miss them, right?"

Monica smiled and took her grandson in her arms as he gave a little sob. "Of course, it is, I miss your grandfather and all the rest every day."

"There were things I wanted to say to Sonny. Things I needed him to know."

"Then tell him" Monica said.

Michael looked at her.

She nodded her head up towards the painting of Edward. "While he was alive, I never told him how much of father he was to me. How much I loved him like the Father I never knew." She smiled. "After he was gone. I had a long talk with him about it. About the mistakes I made, about the ways he had hurt me, and I had hurt him, and mostly about how much I was grateful that he had taken me into this family and never let me feel less a part of it, because I was not born a Quartermaine."

Michael smiled. "In his own way Sonny did the same for me."

Monica laughed, "Yeah, his own very odd way. But I've thanked Sonny now that he is gone for the good, he did, so I see no reason for you not to talk to him."

"Thanks" Michael said as he hugged her.

The doorbell rang and Monica went to get it. She came back in with Faith Gaitlin "Michael Faith would like to speak with you for a minute."

In her office at the Logan Hayes Veterans Center Captain Serena Baldwin US Army JAG, threw a folder down on her desk as she spoke on the phone. "Do not tell me that I do not understand, Ms. Pyrde. My client was supposed to be transferred to the new Veterans Court. "

The door to the office opened and Drew Cain, Serena's boyfriend entered. He took a look at her face and sat quietly down in a chair across the desk from her.

"This was arranged, you had no right to remove him from Veterans Court. "There was a pause. "Fine we will see, tell the District Attorney's office that I am about to take them to school on how veterans are treated in this city." She slammed the phone down.

"Tough Day Officer?" Drew asked.

"Sgt Joshua Jacobs, to tours in Afghanistan, comes home, to be treated for PTSD, wants to be certified fit for duty, so works really really hard. Sitting his car on New Year's Day smoking a blunt."

Drew nodded

"No, he should not have been smoking, but that is a matter for his commander to address, anyway, Cop comes up in the blind spot bangs on the glass. Cop admits he banged hard. Sgt Jacobs is startled, hits the gas and peels off. Cop is not hurt but Jacobs slams the car into a brick wall. Jacobs isn't hurt either."

"The bang on the glass triggered his PTSD."

"Exactly" said Serena. "Not really the Officer's fault. Not really Jacobs fault, just one of those bad luck things. I get the case moved to the new Veterans court that the state set up. We work a program and there is still a chance, a slim one, that Jacobs can get back active."

"All he needs is a chance"

"That's right Seal. Anyway, some idiot clerk at the courthouse moves it out of Veterans Court and into drug court. He goes through drug court, he's done." She said "So, I am not going to let this stand. These people need to start treating vets with the respect they deserve." She sat down in her chair and sighed. Then she looked at him. "And how are you doing Seal?"

Drew shrugged. "I'm okay but I have been better"

"What's up?" Serena said coming around the desk and sitting on its edge right in front of Drew.

"Well Nina split town this morning, so I think we are going to fold Crimson, maybe relaunch as an online streaming magazine."

Serena scrunched her face; fashion was not her thing. The best thing about the Army was they told you what to wear. "There is more."

Drew nodded. "Yes, kind of ironic that you mentioned PTSD, in some ways I am having a similar problem."

"Oh?"

"Ever since Sonny died, the memories that I share with Jason have moved to the forefront. It's like those memories want to mourn him. The exercises that Soumia and Tom Hardy had given me to bring my real memories to the forefront have stalled, they basically are not working any more. "

"And this means?"

Drew cracked his neck. "I am not sure. I know that once I was told that I was not the 'real" Jason I began to develop memories and relationships that were my own: Monica, Sam, poor Oscar, Scout and of course you, but this time there is this pushing of thoughts from Jason's life with Sonny."

Serena smiled. "I am about to have my jealous bitch moment so we can get it done with and move on. These memories are making you think more and more of Sam?"

Drew took a deep breath. "They are making me remember things, times, moments with Sam that did not happen to me, so yes, I am thinking of her, and even Elizabeth more fondly not that I did not think fondly of either of them."

"So, I should kill them both so we can be good? Serena said smiling.

Drew laughed. "No, I think just spending more time naked will be enough."

She slipped off the desk and sat on his lap. "That can be arranged." They kissed. "Seal, I am here for the long haul."

"I know that" Drew said. "I am too, I just thought that you should know what I know, when I know it."

"Oh Lord, no" Said Serena. "Are we going to be one of those couples, that has actual conversations? How will we ever get our own reality show."

"We wanted a reality show?"

"Of course.: An Officer and a Seal"

Elizabeth Baldwin poured herself a cup of coffee and leaned on the counter in her kitchen. She looked over to the small table where Annie Donnelly sat adding more sugar to her coffee then Elizabeth thought was healthy

Annie took a sip of the coffee and said. "You wouldn't have any honey, would you?"

"Even if I did, I think it would violate my nursing oath to give it to you." Elizabeth said with a smile.

Annie smirked and took another larger sip. "This will do then. So, talk to me about this crazy bitch Siobhan."

"What is there to say." Elizabeth answered. "She and Lucky were together briefly; she was always somehow mixed up with one mobster or another. She was jealous of me. And I guess I was of her as well."

"And you killed her right?"

"No." Elizabeth said annoyed. "I did not, as far as anyone knows it was Anthony Zacchara. Why would you think I killed her?"

"I'm not judging Shiny, just saying." Annie said smiling. "Seriously so she was dead dead. Not body missing, accidentally frozen, no body after falling off a building dead."

"Dead, Dead" Said Elizabeth "Autopsy dead."

"So, are we thinking this is a back from the dead case or a someone is trying to con us case?" Annie asked.

"You want my opinion?"

"Well yeah" Annie said.

"Imposter. There was something off about Siobhan's voice, something not the same."

"Being Dead may do that." Annie said. "But okay, Imposter, who? And why? Even as close as they are to Lucky, I am not seeing Mac or Robert ordering a DNA test and the whole nine yards, it really was just simple trespass, whoever she is she will be out on the streets by nightfall."

"True" Said Elizabeth "Then the question is will she stay here or follow after Lucky?'

"Stay here, no point in chasing him around the world when she knows he will be back." Annie commented. "So, who is she?"

Elizabeth smiled. "Siobhan had two sisters, Megan who was involved in the whole Balkan mess."

"Hoffman, right?" Annie said.

"Yes Theo Hoffman. "

"Something very fishy about that guy and his operation." Annie commented.

"Why?"

"Hoffman is hardly a name from the Balkans, not Greek or Albanian, not Serb or Croat. Just not a Balkan name."

"Meaning?"

Annie shrugged. "Let's just keep that in a file, my father has always warned me off investigating too deep into the Balkan?"

"And he is dead anyway" Elizabeth said

"Yeah" Said Annie "Isn't everyone. So the other sister?"

"Fiona, she showed up after Siobhan's death, blaming Lucky, but left town satisfied." Elizabeth shook her head. "I am not sure, I think we can rule our Fiona, this woman didn't sound like her, but it is hard to tell since you and Lulu knocked her out before too much could go on."

Annie finished her coffee. "That's what she gets for interrupting Moose and Squirrel's wedding."

Elizabeth looked at the younger woman. "You have a lot of loyalty to them."

Annie nodded. "Yeah."

"There is a lot of Lucky's time away, when he was becoming a WSB agent that I don't know, don't understand. I mean I know the Donnelly's and Spencer's were close but…."

"I don't' think my father was ever all that fond of Luke, but my mother thought he was just charming. I thought he was an acquired taste."

Elizabeth laughed. "Yeah, I can go for that when it comes to Luke, What about Lucky though and Soumia?"

"I met them in Scotland, about two years after my father's recovery from the Pulonium-210 virus, which circles back to the Balkan by the way. Anyway, Lucky and Soumia saved me"

"From?"

"I was dangling naked out the window of a castle in Edinboro by a rope tied to my left ankle."

Elizabeth pursed her lips and nodded. "Was that a WSB thing or a Sex thing?"

"Both."

"Why would I know where Holly is, if Ethan doesn't" Robert said putting on his best charming rouge face for Ava.

Ava sat behind her desk and smiled across it at Robert. "Robert, dear dear Robert, in the grand scheme of the world, do I ever strike you as stupid?"

"No of course not" Robert said with a grin

Ava nodded. Leaning against the wall Sam and Ethan each took a deep breath

Ava leaned forward "And do I strike you as incapable of castrating you while you sleep?"

"Now, Now"

Ava slapped her hand on the desk "I want my damn painting"

Robert nodded. "The last I heard she was in Saint Presica in South America."

"What would she be doing there?" Sam asked.

"Visiting my Aunt" Ethan said looking hard at Robert

He nodded. "Yes, last I heard, and mind you it was a few months ago, she was in Presica helping Paloma"

"Helping her do what?" Ava asked.

"Overthrow the government" Robert commented

Sam made a disgusted look "Really Again! Another revolution? Can't it ever be a simple, go pick up the painting"

Ethan patted her shoulder. "Come on Che, we need to get plane tickets."

Anna leaned forward and placed her hands-on Finn's. "You have to understand, this whole Ice Princess Thing, it has made me see that, well that my life, will just never be one that can be shared. I tried it with Duke, and Robert and David, and Eli and Noah and the list seems endless of the ways that I have failed."

"But you have not failed with me" Finn said softly.

"But I will it is inevitable." Anna said sadly. "Sooner or later, I will fail."

"So, this is the 'it's not you, it's me?' kiss off?" Finn said with a trace of anger.

"It is me. Some day you will understand. I am not the woman you need." She got up and said. "I'm going to see Robin for a few days, I would appreciate it if you moved out while I was gone." She leaned down and kissed him softly on the cheek. He held her hand. She pulled it away and walked out.

Finn sat for what seemed a very long time. He was getting up slowly when a woman sat down across from him.

"I did not mean to overhear, and I know that I am the last person who should be interfering or saying anything to you, but that was the biggest load of horse manure I have seen in a long time."

Hamilton Finn blinked his eyes and looked at his former lover Hayden Barnes "Excuse me?"

Hayden patted Finn's hand. "That woman is lying"

Finn shook his head.

"Finn look at me" Hayden said. "I know lies. I know liars. I am one. I know all the tells, the little side looks, the way your breath changes pace. All of it and Anna is lying. Part of me wishes she wasn't, but she is"

"Why?" He said sadly.

Hayden looked around the diner and sighed. "I do not know. But if you want help finding out. I'm here."

"Why am I doing this Mom?' Jennifer Hutchinson said to Lesley Webber as she picked up a paint brush and looked at the blank canvas.

Lesley looked over at Franco Baldwin. They were in the art therapy room of General Hospital. Jennifer had had her mind manipulated by Alexandria Quartermaine and believed herself to be a young Laura Webber, locked in her real memories was the identity of the dancer serial killer. Tom Hardy, Kevin Collins and Franco all thought that perhaps the relaxation of art therapy may begin to unlock Jennifer's real memories.

Lesley smiled at the girl. "We talked about this dear, Franco is the art therapist here at GH, and we think doing some artwork may help you."

"And explain why I keep seeing everyone as so Old? "She asked.

Jennifer looked over at Franco and at the paintings in the room. "You did these?"

Franco smiled and nodded. "Yes."

"So, you are like Bob Ross on PBS?"

Franco cringed. "Yeah kind of."

Jennifer smiled. "I like his happy little trees."

"Who doesn't" Said Franco heavily

"You look like Scotty, sound like him too"

Franco, who was Scott's son with Heather Webber, a woman Laura barely knew, looked at Lesley.

"Franco is a relative of Lloyd Benson, Scotty's birth Father."

Jennifer nodded slowly. She looked at the canvas and said. "So, Should I paint Happy Little Trees?" She said with a smile.

"Paint whatever your heart tells you" Said Franco.

Peter August slipped into the booth across from Josslyn, who was disguised as Jess. He tried to smile. "Well now you know my real name. I guess you have seen my picture in the paper?"

"Ye…Yes…" Joss said thinking as fast as she could. Peter August worked for her Father; he knew her mother. Jason hated him. Oh god she was in trouble.

"I am sorry I deceived you" Peter said

Josslyn took a deep breath and in her head said: oh please yours was nothing, I've lied about my name, my hair, these tats, I am not a student at PCU and oh by the way I was not 19 when we first began talking and 20 now, I was 16 and now I am 17.

Instead she said. "No, it's understandable"

He nodded. "I am glad you feel that way. I can't tell you how excited I am to final be able to meet you."

She really did like him. Damn, this was worse than she imagined. "I am to."

Across the cafeteria Dev Corbin leaned in to whisper to Kristina Corinthos "That is Peter August."

Kristina smiled. "Yes, it is, get pictures"

"What?"

"Take out your phone and get pictures of them, adding Peter August to my collection would be excellent."

Dev did as he was told snapping several pictures of the couple talking and laughing. "Kristina what are you thinking."

"Well I now know how I am going to destroy Molly."

"Molly?" Dev asked. "With photos of Joss?"

Kristina shook her head. "Yes, come on we have enough here, let's let our young lovers enjoy their date, we need to find my father's hidden accounts."

"And how are we going to do that?"

"Before they read his well, I downloaded all his files to a flash drive, somewhere on there is our key"

"And you think you and I have the computer skills to figure out where those files are, I am sure it is all encrypted."

Kristina smiled. "I am sure you are right. But we don't need to have any computer skills, we just need someone with computer skills."

Dev shook his head. "If you think Spinelli is going to help you with out tipping off Jason you have lost your mind."

Kristina took a deep breath. "Why does everyone think that Jason's Chia Pet is the only computer expert in the world? " She rubbed her eyes. "If he were as good as Jason and my father and half this silly little city think he was, then he'd be Bill Gates!"

"So, what are we going to do?"

"Look around you boy, this is a University Campus, a University with a large computer science department. We are going to go find a nerd to work for us."

"How? Why would they?" dev asked.

Kristina wondered if her Father had been surrounded by idiots, then she remembered Max and Milo and realized he had been.

"Well we are going to offer them money, most people do anything for money." Kristina said. "And if the Money doesn't work, we have a phone filled with naked pictures of a hot girl, we'll throw those in."

Monica realized that she was old. She could not imagine wearing her hair, piercing her face, and dressing in the matter that the neo-punk Faith Gatlin did. If Monica, and the rest of Port Charles did not owe this young woman their lives for her work during the Ice Princess Crisis she would have dismissed her from the mansions, long lost niece or not. Instead she put out her hand. "Faith, we met during the crisis, but that was so crazy, I did not get a chance to either thank you or properly introduce myself. I'm your Aunt Monica."

Faith ran her had over the bald half of her head and smiled. "Well I never thought of myself as much of a Holt, and I don't think my grandfather thinks of himself as much of a Quartermaine, so I'm not sure about the Aunt thing but it is nice to meet you."

Monica shook the girl's hand. "Well, around here we like to add Quartermaine's, so you are very welcome."

Michael smiled and said. "You wanted to see me Faith?"

Monica held up her hand. "I will leave you two to talk, I need to speak to Cook about dinner tonight, and see if she needs anything from the Market."

Michael looked. "You're going? Not Alice?"

"Alice is getting ready for her date." Monica said with a smile.

"Alice?' Faith asked. "Another Aunt?"

'Might as well be" Said Michael laughing. "To say that Alice is the maid, so understates what she is to all of us. "He looked at his grandmother. "Alice has a date?"

"Yes, with Nini Krasniqi."

"Rovena's father?"

Monica shook her head up and down. "Yep." She kissed Michael on the cheek and gave Faith another handshake. "I have things to do, you two talk business."

Michael motioned Faith to the couch, still processing in his head Alice on a date with Nini "Can I get you anything? Water, Soda, something stronger?"

"No, no thank you." Faith said. She waited till he sat down then said. "Look, I am a kind of get to the point person. I was wondering if you knew if any of the big companies around here were looking to hire a Chief Technical Officer."

"Don't you work for the WSB?" Michael said.

Faith laughed. "I was hired as a consultant for the Ice Princess thing, but not working for them full time, is for the likes of Dr. Al-Fayheed and Dr. Garshallah. I'm not into helping the deep state get deeper."

Michael nodded he was not sure he completely understood but he did get that she did not want to work for the WSB

"Okay, I have another question then, why Port Charles? With your skills, NASA, Google, Apple all have to be calling. I checked you out, you are a Computer Engineering Major from MIT. A few years behind Hajar and Soumia, you could write your own ticket to a major tech firm."

Faith smiled. "I like that you ran background." She paused. "Why here? Because here is going to be ground zero for my Uncle's campaign against Roy Ward to become governor, for the next year, Charlie and my grandfather are going to infest this town."

"And you want to help them?"

"Help them go to hell." Faith snapped. "if there is a war of the Quartermaine Bastards going down, this little geek is siding with the Wards."

Michael sat back on the couch. "Well in that case I have a better idea, then CTO at any one of the local large corporations."

"Do you?"

"Yes, what if ELQ were to lend you the money for a tech start-up, which would let you consult with us, Aurora Media, Taub-Stanton and even Cassadine Industries?"

"In exchange for?"

"Every single piece of opposition research you can deliver on Charlie Holt."

"Draw up the papers and recommend a lawyer, cousin" Faith said holding out her hand

At the Metro Court Charlie Holt leapt up to greet Carly as she came in. "Carly, you look lovely."

"I look like I spent half the day moving" Carly said with a smile. "But thank you."

He motioned for her to sit down and then said. "Moving."

"Yes, I decided to move back to my own house. My Mother has been living there the past few years, but it is a massive place."

Charlie Holt nodded. "And you are okay with this move?"

Carly shook her head. "Yes. I have never been the type to wander around a big house by myself and weep and wail, and truthfully Sonny would not want me to do that. It's time for a new fresh outlook."

Holt reached out and patted Carly's hand. "I cannot tell you how much that pleases me. I would be devastated if you spent your time in a depression"

She smiled at him.

"In fact, if you are looking for something fresh to do, well, that fund raiser that you once volunteered to host, well frankly we could still use it."

"So could the city, getting some high roller from across the state into town would be helpful."

"And with that many movers and shakers across the state at the event it would be hard for the mayor not to attend." Said Charlie.

Carly nodded. "Not that Laura will support you, she has deep ties with the Wards."

"I don't need her support but making her look neutral would be nice."

"What date are you looking at" Carly asked.

"We are three weeks out from Valentine's day, do you think we can do it then?"

Jason was startled to see a man standing by Sonny's grave. He was even more surprised to see that it was his twin brother Drew Cain.

"Drew?" He said as he approached.

Drew cracked his neck and looked at Jason. He held out his hand. "Jason, how are you?"

Jason shook his brothers' hand. "I'm well."

Jason turned and looked at Sonny's grave. For a moment Jason was overwhelmed with emotion. All emotion physically hurt him, the processing of it giving him a nearly continual thirty-year headache. The deeper the emotion or the more confusing, the harder the pain.

He looked at Drew and did what he often did in these cases, he diverted. "What brings you here?"

Drew shook his head. "You, or at least the part of me that shares your memories. Ever since Sonny died, I have been trying to separate my reaction to his death from your reaction to his death."

"And?"

"And I came to the conclusion that for whatever reason, you loved Sonny like a brother. But…well frankly brother, you would never be able to mourn for him, to cry for him because the emotion would be too overwhelming for you."

Jason nodded. "It is. I come here. I stand. I look. I pray but most of it is too hard."

Drew nodded. "I tried to suppress your emotions from me, but it was making me ill. So, I came here to mourn for Sonny, for you. To cry for Sonny for you."

Jason saw the tears rolling down Drew's cheeks. He placed his hand on Drew's shoulder and said. "Thank you."

The brothers stood by Sonny's grave, one softly crying, the other standing stoic, as the sun began to set

Across the country at a small hospital some two hundred miles west of Helena, Montana, a Doctor stood at the foot of a hospital bed and looked at a chart. He hung it and stepped outside.

"How is he Doctor Higgins?" A young nurse asked.

"Remarkable, anyone else with those injuries would be dead. But our Mr. Matthews seems to slowly but surely be making a physical recovery."

"And mentally?"

The Doctor shrugged. "I have no baseline; I am just not sure." He sighed. "Has his brother been by?"

"Yesterday." The Nurse answered. "That man's devotion is remarkable."

Doctor Higgins nodded. "Yes, it is, I wish I was as close to my own siblings."


End file.
